Where have I been?

I’ve gotten a few emails about the lack of posts, so rather than reply to everyone, I figure I’ll set it straight:

I’ve been working on a compiler for class. Boom!

Something kinda cool though:

I can take code that looks like this:

extern void print_int(int x);
extern void print_string(char x[]);

int two[2];
int five[5], one;

void love_me(void) {
	print_string("You love me, don't you?n");
}

void main( void ) {
	two = 4;
	love_me();
}

And turn it into code that looks like this:

.data
	two: .space 8
	five: .space 20
	one: .space 4
_string_0:	.asciiz "You love me, dont you?n"

.text

jal love_me
la $sp, 4($sp)
love_me:
 	# Function prologue
 	sw $fp, -4($sp)						# save old $fp
	sw $ra, -8($sp)						# save return address
	la $fp, 0($sp)						# set up frame pointer
	la $sp, -12($sp)					# Update stack pointer and allocate stack frame

# Load variables on to the stack
la $t9, _string_0
sw $t9, -4($sp)
la $sp, -4($sp)
# Call the method
jal print_string
la $sp, 4($sp)

 	# Function epilogue
	la $sp, 0($fp)						# Restore stack pointer
	lw $ra, -8($sp)						# Restore return address
	lw $fp, -4($sp)						# Restore frame pointer
	jr $ra							# Return

jal main
la $sp, 4($sp)
main:
 	# Function prologue
 	sw $fp, -4($sp)						# save old $fp
	sw $ra, -8($sp)						# save return address
	la $fp, 0($sp)						# set up frame pointer
	la $sp, -12($sp)					# Update stack pointer and allocate stack frame

li $4, 4	# Load _tmp_0
sw $4, -16($fp)	

lw $4, -16($fp)	# Load two
sw $4, two

# Load variables on to the stack
# Call the method
jal love_me
la $sp, 4($sp)

 	# Function epilogue
	la $sp, 0($fp)						# Restore stack pointer
	lw $ra, -8($sp)						# Restore return address
	lw $fp, -4($sp)						# Restore frame pointer
	jr $ra							# Return

print_int:
	li $v0, 1
	lw $a0, 0($sp)
	syscall
	jr $ra

print_string:
	li $v0, 4
	lw $a0, 0($sp)
	syscall
	jr $ra

When I get it done, I’ll open-source it and be back for more ruby joy! So stay tuned amigos!